Chameleon

A friend of mine got a class 156 recently on eBay. Apart from the two coaches going opposite directions which he has since fixed, he can’t get the tail lights to work at either end. He is getting both ends showing white lights, no matter what direction it is going. I think he said the day/night settings are back to front or somesuch. any ideas why he can’t get any tail lights showing on both coaches?

I have a couple of these cabinets and most of the springs in the hinges have now gone ping. Anyone know of a suitable set of hinges, the right size that I could use as replacements?

It does seem to be taking an inordinate amount of time to produce these. I appreciate there are many variations but these have benn years in the making. They even had an engineering prototype on the tv program and that was a good year or two ago. I hope these are worth the wait.

I think they realise out of a class of 842 locos, they will have 1000 plus variations. It is probably the most convoluted and complex class of locos ever produced. Different batches, builders, rebuilds etc. I did notice the BIG pile of books on the subject he had! i expect they will cover the main batches and build versions. From the look of the cads they had on screen they had about 5 different cabs and several boiler and tender variations. simon did say they could get 14-15 years of locos out of this model so it will return its investment. everyone will probably have a preferred or specific loco they will want do I doubt everyone will get what they want. The various preserved locos should be easy enough to produce and check they’ve got the details right.

Interesting to see the engineering prototype on the programme tonight. This would have been filmed some time ago and they did mention a year of development. Funny how nothing has appeared yet. If it is at that stage, I’m surprised it’ll be another two years or so til it appears. Good to see the effort they are putting into building the different variations of the class. Will they cover them all?

I have a few soundchips in my narrow gauge locos, Loksound 3.5s I think. Several of them seem to have little or no overrun cutoff of coasting ability. They do cut off a bit if I decelerate rapidly but as soon as they get to a lower speed, they start chuffing again. this leads to them coming into a station under full power. Is there a setting or cv that extends this cutoff so that they will happily coast n blank into a station as though they are not under power? Some have sound files from Leosoundlab and a couple have the generic “BR99” sound file from Loksound which is actually pretty good. is there a standard CV(s) that can set or lengthen this cutoff or is it dependent on who programmed the sound file in the first place?

I’ve just got my Quarty Hunslets and I was wondering what chips to put in them? I’m guessing something like the Zen Nano 6 pin ones? Is there room for a small stay alive? Possibly one of the small KA ones? I know the cabbed ones can take them but what about the open, cabless ones? What would fit in one of them?

I have a Tillig 060 loco in HOe, factory fitted with, I think a Loksound 3.5 (I’ve had it quite a while) it is a truly horrible runner and I just can’t get it to run reliably. I’ve checked all the pickups etc to no avail so it just sits in a siding emitting occasional random sounds. is it possible to fit a stay alive to one of these chips? I’m thinking of a Zemo KA or similar as it’s a small loco.

Out of all the models in the announcement, I was most impressed with 47 526. That one of the best factory weathering jobs I’ve seen since Bachman did the scabby MK1 test train coaches.

Who’s buying two then?

The point there is they worked with the studios and had permission. My point was, had they produced those models WITHOT getting prior agreement, they would have been slapped with a cease and desist order before the models ever hit the shelves. This is pretty much what they are trying to do here.

I wonder how far they would get if they wee to release a series of models “inspired by” James Bond or spaceship kits “inspired by” Star Wars? Without having copyright permission in place?

I’d be happy to transplant a better decoder and sound into the loco but we don’t know yet if the smoke generator is a standalone unit or does it have to have a specific chip powering it with a pulsed feed from one of the functions? Changing the chuff rate is fairly easy to do by tweaking a couple of CVS, I did this on the black 5 and it made a huge difference. Hopefully, they’ve retooled the tender too.

I’d be curious to know if the steam generator would be compatible with other chips or will the setup be specific to their TTS setup? I have a couple of Black 5s and, to be fair, the TTS sound isn’t bad, with a few tweaks of about 7 or 8 CVS, it’s not bad. But it could be a lot better. Would changing the chuff rate on the CVs change the chuff rate on the steam generator? I do have a couple of locoman sound chips and speakers, the question is, will they be compatible with the steam generatot? I realise this is all conjecture until someone gets their paws on one and finds out how it all works. as for price, to be fair £250 or so isn’t bad for what you are getting, especially considering the Bachman Double Fairlie with sound was nigh on £300.

Does this mean they are finally going to retool the tender and do away with the obvious step along the chassis?

This could be a PR disaster for Hornby. It appears to be a case of Goliath trying to crush David and does NOT show them in a good light. Rapido announced their model almost a year ago. What stage of development/commitment were ‘Hornby at when Rapido made their announcement?

It’ll be interesting to see whose models appear first. Rapidos were announced some time ago and are available for pre orders. How far has Hornby got with theirs? They obviously know about Rapidos, so will they be going flat out to produce theirs first? I have already put a deposit down for a sound fitted set from Rapido and will happily wait for their model, even if Hornby’s some out first. It all smacks of anti competitive practise as they can’t claim they didn’t know the other model was coming out or whine about duplicating the market when it’s them that’s doing it. I really hope Rapido don’t pull the plug on this as I think most people will see Hornby for what they are and will support “the little guy” Visiting the Hornby stand at an exhibition (do they still go to Glasgow?) could be an interesting experience. I saw in the video, the Rapido model is at the tooling stage and engineering prototypes should be out in the spring. I really doubt Hornby will do a “Double Fairlie” and bring their models out in a couple of weeks. Their timescales are usually a couple of years!

Perhaps leave the cab roof off, if you can so you can paint the interior of the cab, assuming it’s visible. Is it a 3D printed kit or a metal one? Pics might help to see what it is.

It would be nice to see them jump on the oo9 bandwagon. I guess a NGG16 would be outlandishly expensive but Russell or Linda/Blanch would be a more reasonable prospect. or how about they start to do Talyllyn stock? Assuming it dosent class with Bachmanns copyright on the Skarliey stuff, they could do the locos and coaches and wagons etc.

I have a Bachman 150 sprinter with, I think, a gauge master 21 DCC chip in it. The head/tail light work fine when the power car is leading but when I reverse it, the lights don’t work. Any ideas?

It’s on DCC on a Hornby Elite system. I’ve tried F1 to turn the sound on to no avail. I have noticed there is a bit of a pause before it starts to move so I’m thinking it’s trying to play the sounds before it moves? Should it start right away when the sound is turned off? im thinking of a factory reset to see if it’ll clear any errant settings.

I have a Hornby TTS fitted flying Scotsman it runs and drives fine but the sound isn’t doing anything. Apparently it was working fine before it was sold. Is there a function or setting that might have silenced it?

I was going to say the same. If Bachman can make space in a tiny Hunslet for DCC, I’m sure Peco/Kato could have done the same. Especially as it has a tender. Looking at the chassis pic, there are wires going to the motor so I guess you will be able to splice a chip in there.

Did anyone ever come up with suitable replacement hinges for these cases? I have had at least 3 go ping on my two cabinets. Fortunately no more than one on each door but I don’t trust them and could do with replacing them for peace of mind.

I’m looking to create a full list of all my trains, primarily for insurance listing but also to keep track of what I have. I have a large collection of 00 and HOe and really need to get it organised. what software etc do people use to list and keep track of their stock?